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Today’s Encouraging Thought…

Apr14

Whatever the struggle – relational, financial, physical, etc. – we can put our full trust in our Faithful Victor! As we pray, rest, watch and wait with the utmost confidence in Him, we will see the Lord is our sure victory! Grace wins every time!

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This song inspired the last sentence of Today’s Encouraging Thought… Here is Matthew West with Grace Wins. Enjoy!

Today’s Encouraging Thought…

Mar17

The same miracle working God who has delivered us time and time again will not only sustain us through every challenge and battle, but will also give us renewed joy in the jungle of life! He is faithful, He is good all our days! Just a reminder!

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I hope you can take the time to listen to the meaningful lyrics of “Even If” by MercyMe…

Today’s Encouraging Thought…

Jan31

God wants us to be cross-conscious, to see Jesus who willingly died for us on the cross because He loves us so much. This is where God demonstrated His deep mercy and amazing grace!!

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This song has been around for a while, but the words still speak the beautiful truth of Jesus’ sacrifice for our souls. I hope you enjoy “Above All” by Michael W. Smith…

 

Five Things We Do Not Have to Bear

Jan26

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Jesus accomplished innumerable things for us through His suffering on the Cross of Calvary…so many that we could never list them all! But for today, we will focus on a few that grab me to the very core of my soul…

He bore our rejection so that we would never be forsaken.

It was on the cross that Jesus, for the very first time, addressed His Father as God rather than Father. At that moment, He knew He had no right, no access to the face and presence of His Father because He bore the sin of the whole world. He knew His Holy Father could not, would not look on sin. His question, “Why have you forsaken me?” has always puzzled me because surely He knew the answer. I have to wonder if just maybe it was for us. When we sin, don’t we often feel alone and forsaken? And it is when we sincerely ask God “why” that He reveals our sin to us. It is through our confession, admitting that we are wrong and changing our direction (repenting), that our fellowship with our Heavenly Father is restored.

“About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?)” —Matthew 27:46 NIV

He bore our sin so that we could share in His righteousness.

Jesus took our sin upon His body, so that we do not have to bear it. If we knew the true depth of our own sin, we would crumble under the weight, but Jesus knew because He did bear it. And the price was high. It cost Him everything. His beard was plucked out, He was persecuted, deceived, stripped, mocked, slapped, beaten, spit upon, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross, bled and died the cruelest death ever for our sin. He took our beating, our humiliation, our punishment in every possible way. In retrospect, we could say that we were lying down, ready to be nailed to that cross, and Jesus held His hand out to us, pulled us up and willingly laid Himself down in our place…because, dear friends, that is what He did! He exchanged our cross for His robe, He bore our whooping so that we could share in His righteousness!

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” —2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

He bore our weakness so that we could have His strength.

Have you ever noticed that the Lord Jesus takes us further and higher, expands our avenues, or leads us to new ventures…or adventures? We don’t grow in strength or character without a challenge and He, it seems to me, is in the growth business…mostly growing our character. I, for one, never thought I would be a Christian Women’s Speaker… never! I avoided speeches and speech classes at all cost! I loved drama because of the simple fact that I could hide behind a costume and a character. The day the Lord called me to a speaking ministry is the day He called me to my knees in full dependence on Him. After nine years and many tears, He gave me the idea for my first character. Thus, He combined my fear and my love, but that did not happen until I found His strength in and through my weakness.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” —Philippians 4:13 NKJV

He bore our sickness so that we could die to our sin, live for righteousness and be healed.

I’m not going to promise that every illness we ever have will be healed because of the simple fact that “it is appointed unto man once to die.” (Hebrews 9:27 KJV). We know that at some point in time, each of us will be taken into glory where we will, once and for all, find perfect healing. In the meantime, it is important to recognize that our own thoughts, words and actions can condemn us and make us physically ill. Sickness is a part of this fallen world we live in, and most of us deal with the common cold, flu, etc. And God allows sickness to cross our paths for different reasons…to humble us, force us to rest, soften our hearts, only He knows. Sin sickness is also a part of us as fallen man, and Jesus bore that on the cross. When our sin makes us sick, spiritually and/or physically, we can take it to Him, and trust that by HIS wounds we ARE healed, from the sin itself and its affects.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” —1 Peter 2:24 NIV

He bore our loneliness so that we could know He was with us always.

We live in a time when Social Media is on the rise, but so is loneliness. We are talking more and connecting less. We can post what we want others to see and hear but we are not face-to-face where they can actually perceive the real us, the issues of our lives. God sees it all and He knows our hearts, our thoughts, our weaknesses, our feelings, our everything. He founded the first FaceBook…He sees our ‘face’ and our names are written in His ‘Book.’ And lo and behold, He sees us through the eyes of mercy and grace…eyes of deep, everlasting love that stays with us to the very end of the age. So whether we are in a crowd feeling all alone, or at home all by ourselves, we can know that HE is with us.

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” —Matthew 28:20 NIV

Bottom line, Jesus paid it all and carried it all to the cross for you and me…. And to this day, His Living Word still encourages us to cast our cares upon Him, the One who bore it all for us. And why? Because my dear blogging friend, He truly cares for you!

NIV – The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by BIBLICA Inc.® All rights reserved.
NKJV – The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
KJV – King James Version (KJV) © Crown Copyright in UK.
All other © Celebrate His Love, 2018.

Don’t Ever Let Anyone Dull Your Sparkle!

Jan23

This past weekend I enjoyed a wonderful artsy-craftsy convention in Phoenix, AZ with a very artistic friend of mine. During our stay, we just had to visit a couple of Cracker Barrel Restaurants and Gift Shops because there are none in So Cal! Since this amazing comfort food has quite a draw, there was also a bit of a wait, so we decided to shop before we ate instead of after…when I just happened upon this little plaque! I loved it so much, I bought two – one for me, one for my friend.

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So much truth to be found in these few words… “Don’t ever let anyone dull your sparkle.” When Jesus comes into our hearts and lives, we have His life in us…ready, willing and able to shine the Light and Love of God to a world in need. As a couple of song writers put it, “God put a million, million doors in the world for his love to walk through, one of those doors is you.” *

Of course, if you’ve been waking with the Lord for any length of time, you know this comes with challenges because He and we have a very real enemy…an enemy that will use anyone and anything to take our minds, hearts and actions away from “Sparkling with the Love of Jesus!”

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: —1 Peter‬ ‭5:8‬ (KJV)

In my experience, he tends to use whatever means the most to us, whatever we are most passionate about…our spouse, our kids, our job, our boss, our closest co-worker, our health, our ministry, our past and/or present sins, you name it. The best I can figure is that because our souls are completely saved by God’s grace and out of the enemy’s reach (that battle lost), he will use anything to get us down, discouraged, disheartened and depressed to render us useless for the cause of Christ. Simply put, he can’t have our souls, so he goes for our minds. Our souls are secure, we are already seated (at rest) in Christ Jesus.

…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. —Romans‬ ‭3:24‬ ‭(NIV‬‬)

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, —‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:6‬ ‭(NIV‬‬)

Yes, our souls are saved, seated and at rest, so all the enemy can do is upset the apple cart by waging war with our minds, this earthly house, and his tactics are grossly inferior tools in his wicked, deceptive hands! But oh, how he can run amok at times! Thankfully, he is NOT, by ANY stretch of the imagination, more powerful than HE who is in us, nor is he the final authority! Hallelujah, we have an Advocate Who IS the Final Authority over ALL these things!

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” —1 John‬ ‭2:1 (KJV)

May our weary, battle-ridden minds always remember to lay it all down at the foot of the cross and cry out for HELP to our Most Faithful God! He is the One Who saved us by His grace when we first trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ! And He hears us and strengthens us to go forward in unruffled trust as Jesus did.

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” —‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1b-2‬ ‭(KJV‬‬)

If you have a Mama Bear or Papa Bear that rises up inside of you on behalf of those you love, you can know He does as well! His Papa Bear goes to battle in Heavenly Realms where the real war for our minds and sparkle wages! From His heart of love, mercy and grace…a LOVE that died for our very souls…He shines forth victorious because HIS LOVE truly does conquer all…over and over again!!

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. —‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:57‬ ‭(NIV‬‬)

So next time that wicked enemy endeavors to mess with your mind and dull your sparkle…regardless of what he uses…cry out to Jesus, the very LOVER OF YOUR SOUL! HE won’t ever let anyone or anything dull your SPARKLE! HE is the victory and will shine through you and me in and out of the every battle of this life.

So…before the battle, SPARKLE! In the battle, SPARKLE! After the battle, SPARKLE. And wherever you are, whatever you are doing right now, today…by all means, SPARKLE!!!

Please enjoy this music video “With Every Act of Love” (*quoted above), by Jason Gray…

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King James Version (KJV) ©Crown Copyright in UK
All other ©Celebrate His Love, 2018